Tuesday, June 11, 2013

June 10-16 | Your News & Comments: Part 1

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58 comments:

  1. Another veteran reporter/editor leaves Gannett.
    http://msbusiness.com/blog/2013/06/07/qa-rusty-hampton-leaves-journalism-after-30-years-for-the-engineering-field/

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  2. If you are looking for an answer to what Gannett thinks the solution is, look no further than here:

    https://www.bcgperspectives.com/content/articles/media_entertainment_digital_economy_transforming_print_media/

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  3. Print has 10 years left. Do the math on your circulation declines and new starts. Complaints about content are VERY low. Service are high. Just letting them expire and not returning is very high. Digital subscriptions are retaining print readers because of the package deal, but those days are limited as papers pile up at the house. Really. Digital ads will not fund the newsrooms of yesterday or today. News will be a niche, as Sue Clark-Johnson said. She was right, and she moved on.

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    1. Sue Clark-Johnson left because she didnt have the ability to get the job done. An overrated executive who reached her Peter Principal. Don't reinvent history

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    2. 3:23 = idiot. First, attacking people by name while you hide is cowardly. Second, it's Peter Principle, you dumbass.

      Here's a tip: Grow some balls. Then some brains. Until then, don't post.

      Jim, start screening the bullshit, you pansy.

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    3. 6:01 Irony alert. You're attacking me, anonymously.

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    4. Yes, Jim. I am. Glad you noticed.

      You are no longer with the company, though. I doubt anyone cares what I call you.

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  4. Shreveport has one of the steepest declines in the company. Is that because it's a young audience? Thought the new format appeals to younger people. Was that true in Lafayette, Indiana? It all just saves money and helps manage expenses. The problem is that the press and the format didn't save the money it should have. Take the ten longest serving people in the newsroom and add up the years. Go back a few years and do the same. It was 3X the amount. To know me is to love me. To love me, you need to know me.

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    1. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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    2. Makes perfect sense to me. Shreveport paper is the pits because there's too few people working there with news experience and local roots to do a decent job...or even know what a decent job entails.

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  5. @ 3:42- a long time AME and a veteran reporter both gave notice at the APP last week and both are so fed up with the current circus that they are leaving without having another job in hand. Management is scrambling because "content evolution" and top down management isn't working as hoped. Winning a lot of awards for covering a hurricane in your own back yard is a no-brainer, since if the APP had been "beaten" by a competing daily, you might as well close up shop. But it did get beat on the Ash-Britt story by the Ledger, even though staff did clue in upper management, which doesn't listen to staff any more, because all idea come from the top. Let's see how well the APP does next year in awards.

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    1. Rumor question:

      Word is the Daily Record (Morris County, NJ) didn't renew their lease and their staff are currently not working out of a building; and thus, have to physically check in at the APP twice a week.

      Is this true? ...... just askin'

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    2. Charles Everett6/11/2013 1:25 PM

      For those who aren't aware, the "Ash-Britt story" is about a pedophile priest from northern New Jersey who worked as a youth minister on the Jersey Shore -- with the blessing of his archbishop.

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    3. ???? Ash-britt is a contractor hired by the state to clean up after hurricane sandy. You must be a APP editor right?

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    4. Charles Everett6/11/2013 2:50 PM

      No, I've never worked for Gannett. Yes, the story involving that Jersey Shore priest was rather important.

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    5. Yes it was important, but it had nothing to do with Ash-britt.

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    6. And they aren't the only ones who have left in the past 6 or so months with no job prospects. How bad does morale have to be for half a dozen people to just up and quit? When will corporate take notice that the clowns in charge at APP are screwing it up and have completely lost the newsroom? (Nevermind, I know the answer.)

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  6. So what has happened to all the sponsorship tickets to the Tony Awards Show for the usat clients? So where did they go and who got them all? Something fishy going on as usual with the advertiser perks.

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    1. Fishy for sure. I'm in advertising sales and have no idea what you're talking about.

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    2. 10:55 do you really think anyone is beating down the doors to go to the Tonys???? Not much of a conspiracy here. But nice try stirring the pot.

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    3. Thanks for checking in Buesse!

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    4. We used to get hundreds of worthless seats for the Tonys but gave that up to NYT last year. This was another one of those idiotic folly ideas by Ed Cassidy that ended when he left.

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    5. Who keeps drumming up these old sales staff? He is fired, dead, buried and forgotten.

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    6. 4:43,
      Not quite. We were doing the Tony's long before Ed Cassidy came and went.

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    7. Yes, that is true. The Tony's partnership started with one of the best VP's of marketing USAT ever had, Not with Ed (although he did bring some great assets to the table). She left, shortly after, another Director left and ever since then it's been one disaster after another. I understand things must change and move constantly, but at what cost. Mistreated employees, no chance to be promoted. The new management brought in all their "old crew" and it's still not working. I bet Al is turning and burning in his grave...RIP, Al. Your vision was significant, I can only hope that it remains a sustainable.

      Former Employee, who really, truly believed in the brand.

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  7. In Visalia, the ad director just quit to take a job in another company and the executive editor retired a few weeks ago without a lot of notice. Half the newsroom is looking and all of the sales people. Who will run the place? The publisher of course - she's driven everyone off with her craziness. Maybe she can do it all - sell ads and write news stories - or maybe just write stories she sells as ads. Does anyone at Gannett headquarters care about any of this? Or is the craziness what they want?

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    1. Considering this is going on everywhere, I'd say it's what they want.

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  8. YEAH! Stick it to 'em. I heard that site was realigned out of reporting to Palm Springs but now to Great Falls. And there is some connection with Salinas and Shreveport. I wonder what that is?

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  9. There was some discussion yesterday about whether USA Today is really a part of Gannett in the way the community papers are. Well, technically, yes. But as the flagship, USAT does have a history of not always playing by the same rules as other Gannett papers. Of course, corporate has done a lot to change that since moving to the Crystal Palace.

    USAT suffers through endless rounds of layoffs and furloughs just like everyone else. But USAT also still has some pretty nice digs, some fat expense accounts and other perks. However, those things are disappearing, too.

    USAT was most successful when it wasn't under the iron hand of corporate. Working there didn't feel like working for a major media company. And I mean that in a good way.

    But then came the liars -- the puppets of Gannett. Moon, Paulson, etc. It got worse. USAT devolved into a sea of mistrust. Deceit became the norm. Buyouts were "early retirement" programs. That sort of transparent shit just gets under people's skin.

    USAT has tried gimmicky things to become a younger, hipper place to work. It's a joke. An illusion. Behind the curtain are the same corporate monsters plotting their next move while standards and the product sink to new lows.

    So in essence, yes, USA Today is Gannett and Gannett is USA Today. They are now one. And that's a tragedy because while the grass wasn't always greener back in the day, at least it was some shade of green. No one was trying to tell USAT employees it was purple. What we saw was what we got. We knew who the bad people were and we knew who had our backs. Now it's more or less everyone for themselves.

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    1. 11:55 that all sounds good. But as a previous poster stated, USAT NEVER made money under that old guard you so treasure. Without GANNETT you would have failed. You did not make money. Gannett saved you. The folks in the field saved you. That is the truth. So don't start reinventing history to suit your sweet good old days story. The company you and your friends like to crap on is teh same company composed of the hard working folks that ensured you still had a job.

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    2. USA TODAY people were always embarrassed to be part of Gannett. Now we all see why.

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    3. Craig Moon refused Craig and Gracia's marching orders to shrink and someday eliminate usat. Dave Hunke was the lapdog that stepped up to fulfill Gracia's dream and transform usat into nothing but broken pieces.

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    4. Get with the program 1.27 PM Old Gannett kept usat at arm's length and silo'd from the rest of the company. At least Banikarim and Beusse are trying to envelope usat into the Gannett fold and stop your bleeding.

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    5. No one had a fatter expense account and more perks than part time president Craig A. Moon

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    6. Banikarim knows nothing except self promotion. Buesse cut from the same cloth. Made a lot of business deals. But the innane musings of new Sports hires has really sullied whatever mediocre rep the department once had. Does anyone read the vitriolic reader comments? Awful.

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    7. And speaking of money....Cannes is next week.

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  10. Many were so embarrassed they treated fellow employees from other units with disdain and treachery. Their noses were so high in the air they didn't even notice the thinness of the ice under their own feet. Good riddance to those arrogant fools.

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    1. It's not about arrogance. They were, and still are, embarrassed because we all know the kind of company Gannett is. We may be part of Gannett, but not by choice and not with pride.

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    2. well said, 3:08 pm. All pride in usat has fallen the way of every other gannett asset.

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  11. Most of the perceived attude at Usa Today comes from insecurity and fear. The arrogance is just a cover. 75% of the staff couldnt hack the daily grind of the typical Gannett daily.

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    1. 3:14 p.m. Except,3:14 p.m., most of the workers who came to USA TODAY originally were the cream of many Gannett dailies, big and small. And plenty of them are still toiling there today. I never heard people sit around and berate where they came from. Maybe they decried the company itself since, even then, Gannett put the bottom line above all. But many were grateful for the opportunities that local journalism gave them. If there is arrogance, it is not in the newsroom but in the executive suite.

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    2. They may have come from Gannett papers, but a long, long time ago when the pace was far slower and the competition minimal. The loaner program has been over for more than a decade. Several senior managers are from the farm system. They also made some very bad hires. Not a hater, just stating the facts.

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    3. Oh sure we can 3:14. But, thankfully, we have never had to.

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  12. Any talk about offering entire employee population buyout proposal? Or are we going to see another HR headache with targeted layoffs?

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  13. i hope you haters are the first to get the F out

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  14. You're nasty

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  15. Usa Today Now videosnare the worst. Having twenty year old girls read the news is amateurish and cheapens the brand. They come off as silly, badly dressed naifs
    who have no clue what they are talking about. I guess thst is the essence of the operation.

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    1. Thank you for stopping in gramps. "..girls reading the news..." Yep another enlightened dude. Jim you must be so proud of posts like this.

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  16. Those poor kids from Gannett's Talent Development Program were forced to listen to advice from Dickey, Lougee, and the brand queen herself - Blue Balls Banikarim. Really? The tweets are hilarious. Oh to be young. If they only knew the real story. They will soon find out.

    @maryamb says don't network, build relationships. Over share & do acts of generosity expecting nothing in return #TDP13

    [This should begin with, "I don't actually do any of this myself, especially the whole building relationships thing, but I think it's a good idea for you youngsters to try out..."]

    "be incredibly curious, think differently, push yourself...and take media training" - advice by @maryamb #TDP13

    ["Be incredibly curious about finding ways to promote yourself, think differently about how to promote yourself, push yourself to promote yourself, and take media training to promote yourself."

    @maryamb, you can reinvent yourself within the company. That's happening to me now. #TDP13

    [Yes, I'm reinventing myself at Gannett's expense, while making sure others who work with me and are clearly smarter than me don't.]

    @maryamb You're always one of my favorite people to hear from -- so much energy and applicable advice. Thank you! #tdp13

    [This person obviously doesn't have to work for her.]

    I wonder if she discussed how wonderful initiatives such as the Purpose Project and how the Blue Balls Memo have enhanced her brand?

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    1. Really, are we stil talking about this? What are you so bitter about? What has she done personally to you? Please be specific or stop posting. Did she not adequately appreciate yoru talents? You are boring.

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    2. Haha 8:41am, you must work for her. This poster isn't boring. Snarky, sarcastic, and yup, bitter, but not boring. This is why we're on GB! This stuff is juicy. Of course, we'd love to have specific details of how crazy people's managers are, but that may obviously reveal the identity of the poster. So, it's up to you to provide an argument that what is posted isn't true. Since you're defending her, defend her.

      Most of us here have been gone a long time and could careless about the madness that exists there. But, it's interesting to hear these stories about the people the CEO hires and rolls out to everyone has smart and great.

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  17. GIADC's Toni Humphreys is now Vice President Pre-Media Services, congratulations!

    (Don't think you've got it bad until you look at your new business card and see that you've been named VP of PMS.)

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  18. Comment totals up in June, summertime. Does that mean something is brewing?

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    1. You wouldn't know it by Jim's online revenues.

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  19. if you are interested in making your own business card just u need to pay visitto our website

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Jim says: "Proceed with caution; this is a free-for-all comment zone. I try to correct or clarify incorrect information. But I can't catch everything. Please keep your posts focused on Gannett and media-related subjects. Note that I occasionally review comments in advance, to reject inappropriate ones. And I ignore hostile posters, and recommend you do, too."

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